110 TESTIMONY 



of vigorous male life to serve all the female seals which came to the 

 islands, and certainly during this period seal life was not aflected by 

 any deficiency of males. I do not think that the number of seals on 

 the rookeries can be even aj^proximately estimated . ^o satisfactory 

 Not ossibie to measurement of the breeding grouuds ou which to baso 

 eatimate number of an approximation of the number of seals has ever been 

 seals on islands. ^^ ^.^^ l^^ made. Aud, evcu if such measurement could 

 be made, the broken nature of the ground, the inequality of distribu- 

 tion of the seals while on land, and the fact that the females are con- 

 stantly coming and going, preclude the possibility of any sort of calcu- 

 lation which could be of any value at all. 



During the time I was on the islands I only saw a very few dead 

 pups on the rookeries, but the number in 1884 was 

 Dead pups. slightly morc than in former years. I never noticed or 



examined dead pups on the rookeries before 1884, the number being so 

 small, but that year I examined them, and found them very much 

 emaciated. In my judgment tliey were starved to death because their 

 mothers had been killed while away from the islands in search of food. 

 This, perhaps, would not be so if a cow would suckle 

 he?o^Ti^pu^^^ ''"^^ ^^y VW tli'^t comes to her, but she will not, and on 

 the contrary will beat off any young seal which en- 

 deavors to nurse from her except her own. I know a cow recognizes 

 her pup, but a pup never seems to distinguish its mother from other 

 cows which it comes in contact with. During the entire sealing season 

 males of all classes remain on the islands, except that the bachelors 

 once in a while go into the water, but remain in the vicinity of the 

 islands. The females, on the contrary, are going and 

 Females feeding. ^omiug to aud fpom the watcr for the purpose of feed- 

 ing. I believe it is while the females are thus going to and irom the 

 feeding grounds and through the Aleutian passes that they are inter- 

 cepted and shot by open-sea sealers. A pup seal until 

 Pup unable to it is six wccks or two mouths old never goes into the 

 ^^"^' water, being evidently afraid to do so, and it is only 



after this ago that it begins by degrees to become acquainted with the 

 sea. I am of the opinion if a pup got into the water that it would be 

 drowned and therefore would perish if born in the water. For the first 

 six or eight weeks of its life a pup is a land animal and in no way 

 amphibious. 



I became very familiar with the methods employed by the natives in 

 taking the bachelor seals, which are the only ones 

 Drlvif^™^''*' killed on the islands, and I do not believe any improve- 



ment could be made in the methods. The driving from 

 the hauling grounds to the killing grounds was always conducted 

 with the greatest care; was done at night or very early in the morn- 

 ing, slowly and with frequent rests, so that the seals might not 

 ^g^j.^ become overheated. During the killing the mer- 



^°^' chantable seals were always carefully selected. No 



females were killed, except perhaps one or two a season by accident, 

 and the remainder of the herd were allowed to return to the water or 

 hauling grounds. Very few seals were killed in a "drive," and the 

 skins of these were, in nearly every case, retained and counted in the 

 quota allowed to be taken by the lessees. The number of seals killed 

 in this way could not possibly have affected seal life on the island. I 

 never saw or heard of a case where a male seal was seriously injured 

 by driving or redriving. Aud I do not believe that the virility of 

 males driven was destroyed by climbing over the rocks or affected in 



